


Even the Gods are Fallible

by FlickeringNebula



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: F/F, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-10-01 21:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20413711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlickeringNebula/pseuds/FlickeringNebula
Summary: Years have passed since his escaping the unknown, but Wirt is still haunted by the beast. It whispers into his window at night, always there, always watching him. It tells him that it can't be killed. That it exists in all worlds. That it's a God and wants his beautiful soul to add to it's collection. But is it truly what it claims to be?





	1. When we were young

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably terrible and I'm sorry that it exists. Be aware that I don't actually condone the types of relationships that might be shown here. I like writing edgy shit, but I won't write sex scenes involving minors or anything that is too morally fucked up. So yeah the beast is a creep, but his obsession with Wirt is non-sexual. 
> 
> Hopefully this will be at least 15 chapters long. I've never actually written fanfic before so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. 
> 
> This will probably be angst, but I will try to stick to a general story-line.

It was quite late, and Wirt had nothing in particular to do. He didn’t want to sleep, something about the idea of sleeping made him feel wrong. Like he might never wake up again. There was something wrong with the atmosphere of the world. The air was thick and oppressive, and for the past few days he had had the sensation that something was watching him. Something was trying to get inside him. Wirt didn’t know what it would do to him, whether it would turn him into something else or destroy him completely. He shook his head. These thoughts, ideas were the result of his tiredness, certainly everything in the world was as it should have been, whatever that was. The passing of days spent eating alone at school. Boring classes and then the interesting ones. Watching Greg as he rode his bike up and down the street, back and forth, back and forth. Feeling as if no-one would ever see him for the person he was. Or even see him at all.

The “Unknown” was never a place to begin with. Hadn’t it been the product of his drowning mind? And then waking up in the hospital, cold and sweaty and disoriented. The thick water of the pond, the proximity to oblivion. The world that never could have been. Blurry thoughts and memories were pacing through his mind. But why did Greg also have memories of it? Two people couldn’t share a single delusion. Nothing made sense, and Wirt just wanted to sleep.

There was something in the bushes. A rabbit, but no, the sounds it made were too loud. Yellow eyes met his own. Wirt yanked the curtains shut. This was reality, and the beast was dead and gone. Except it couldn't be dead because it was a figment of his imagination. Brains were weird. Dreams were weird.

* * *

It was only mildly inconvenient, that He no longer had that particular flame to sustain Him. He was a God. A beacon of perfection in a universe of entropy, the only true God. He existed in all possible worlds, as was only His right. A God. A God. The God. They were foolish children. He still burned with the light of a million captured souls. “The woods”, being a small universe, had only required a small flame. Why He had lingered there so long he did not know. They said He was a coward, but to hell with “They”. He was the only one. He had to be the only one. Because He wanted to be alone but by alone he meant freed from the burden of His powerlessness in the face of the ones who sought once to control Him, called Him an animal or a monster to be restrained. But they couldn't comprehend His radiance that burned through the fire of the universe itself. His perfect beauty.

It wasn’t the boys fault, exactly. Stupid kid was hiding in his room, to afraid to sleep. Hidden away from Him. “Know that I have watched you your entire life. You have grown to be so beautiful but so lonely. I only want to help you in your endeavors, Wirt, cure you of the fear that you are nothing. I love you, you see. I brought you and your brother to the woods out of love, but you wouldn’t let me save you.” But Wirt did not respond. Why was he so afraid, why couldn’t he embrace His beautiful light? The God was too beautiful not to be seen by someone. Anyone. Everyone. But Wirt was the perfect boy. His eyes were the color of autumn leaves. His soul the hot blue of a lone, graceful flame. His mind was elegant and sharp but still innocent and pure as the soul of an infant. He was so brave even if he didn’t know it. The God wanted to consume him, maybe even become him. But He also wanted to treasure him forever, lock him in a chest and enjoy him whenever He felt lonely. He wouldn’t have been lonely if They hadn’t rejected and tortured him, it was all Their fault. He wasn’t broken, he was perfect. Perfect. A God.

* * *

The thing said it loved him. But Wirt knew that it only wanted to consume him. It always said it loved him, ever since it began to visit after the accident. Was it the beast? It was a monster, most certainly. It wasn’t human. But was it real or a product of his twisted mind? Either way, Wirt was only certain of one thing. He had to get rid of it.

* * *

**A Week Later.**

Wirt walked beside Sara. “So what do you think of that new P.E teacher?” Wirt hated P.E, regardless whoever taught it. “Their all jerks. Its like some kind of law. If you want to be a gym teacher, you have to be the worlds biggest ass.” Sara frowned slightly. “He doesn’t seem to bad, though. I mean he makes us run laps, but they all do. Mrs.Gunsen was worse. I heard she punched a kid once, when he called her fat.” Mrs.Gunsen had been fat. Fat and mean. “I never understood why they allowed her to teach P.E She must have weighed over 300 pounds, and I mean she wasn’t exactly a good role model for healthy eating with all those cakes. And that massive heart attack.” Sarah chuckled. It had been an iconic moment, the gym teacher collapsing dramatically right in the middle of class. They had all laughed, which was honestly an awful thing to do. But they had been kids, and no one liked her anyway. Not even her own children, Wirt knew.

Sara found Wirt entertaining. He was kinda shy and even a bit gloomy, which was interesting in itself . But he had become a lot more social since his near death experience. Sara was glad of that at least. She would rather hang around Wirt then Jason. Jason was nice, but including him in conversations was always difficult. He just didn’t get it, and Sara wanted everything to run smoothly, she wanted everyone to be happy and comfortable. Unfortunately, both Jason and Wirt had feelings for her. Feelings she did not reciprocate. Sara had never been interested in dating, boys after all were just humans. Why would she want anything more than friendship? It was terrible that Wirt felt otherwise, she didn’t want to have to directly reject him. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Sara stared at her feet.

How would she go about this? What if he didn’t understand that she couldn’t love him? It wasn’t that she didn’t want to do so, but rather that she couldn’t. He wasn’t right. No one was right. The other girls talked about how boys were “cute," but again…they were just people. If anything, girls were prettier, with their soft slender bodies and…it didn’t make sense. They were in the park, Wirt seated on a bench beside her. Sara tried to reassure herself of her normality with the fact that she was only in the ninth grade. Perhaps she would develop feelings for boys in time. Maybe one-day she would even be able to love Wirt. He deserved it. Growing up without friendship, always having to care for his younger brother, his parents divorce…But Sara was flawed. Something in her was abnormal and she couldn’t love the boy who was most in need of love. “Wirt?” He turned towards her. “What is it?” How was she going to do this? “I just really want you to know that I appreciate our friendship. Your smart and funny and I don't know…. a nice person. But I don’t think we can be anything more than friends…I’m kind of fucked up. I’m not normal and I can’t return your feelings and I’m sorry I allowed myself to come here today but I just wanted you to be happy I’m so sorry…” The tears on her lips tasted of salt. Fat droplets of the truth running down her face. The world didn’t want someone as abnormal as Sara. She would only disrupt the peace, scare people with her strange and unheard of desires when she only wanted to blend in. Because it wasn’t that she had never had a crush on anyone… truth was she liked girls. She had denied this for so long. Told herself it was just a phase, something everyone went through but eventually overcame.

Wirt looked at Sara with concern and she only began to cry harder. She didn’t want to worry him. She was being such a child, why couldn’t she pull herself together. But the emotions were tearing through her, God this life was so painful…the truth was worse than anything Wirt could ever imagine. All her life Sara had tried to be likeable. She wanted to feel like she belonged as much she wanted to make other people happy. But now her very existence disrupted the peace…”God I’m sorry Wirt. I’m sorry for everything for making you think I liked you when the truth is so much different.”

Wirt watched as Sara sobbed beside him. The girl who did not return his love. Who had denied him of meaning in life…friendship was not enough, he wanted something greater. Someone who would be both willing and able to understand him deeply and profoundly and yet who still accepted his flaws and defects without hesitation. He saw things that weren’t real, heard voices. He felt that he had lost a part of himself when he fell into that pond, the passionate part of him that created art, cared about the beauty of life. Cleary there was something fundamentally wrong with him. Could someone as hollow and mad as Wirt even be loved? He had assumed Sara would be the one to provide him with understanding, but still he was just a foolish boy chasing after a kind of romance that didn’t exist. Everyone was alone in the end. It was impossible to be understood as much as it was impossible to understand. Wirt stared grimly at the ground. It wasn’t Sara’s fault, it was his. For being such a God damn idiot. Beside him, Sara continued to cry. “I’m gay," she said. “And don’t even bother keeping that a secret. I deserve to be hated.” Wirt continued to stare at the ground. He didn’t care that Sara was gay, he only cared that she didn’t love him. While it was true that they were both fourteen and had only been on one date, Wirt knew for certain that his love was real. He had been foolish enough to allow himself to become infatuated with Sara. The world was ending and Wirt was certain he would never be happy again. “I don’t care about that. And I…I don’t blame you for not loving me. I wouldn’t.” Sara smiled through her tears “Yeah obviously you wouldn’t love yourself, you're not gay.” Wirt sighed. “I won’t tell anyone. But can I tell you a secret in return? Ever since the accident I’ve seen and heard things that aren’t real. A monster that claims to love me and stares at me through my window at night. When I drowned I slipped into another world or in the least dreamt that I had and that world continues to haunt me in this life. You don’t have to believe me…but I think I’m losing my mind and it scares me. What is real?” 


	2. Gods Eat Souls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW : Suicide mention

Sara thought Wirt was crazy, but that was okay. She was also crazy for loving girls, being so abnormal. He had walked home with her, though the date had been an abject failure. Her parents were home, but she had immediately run up to her room. They wanted to know why her eyes were stained with tears. It was weird, holding this secret. She had always told her mother everything, but now she couldn’t and she felt so guilty. Sara was their daughter, they had a right to know about her life but they would never be able to understand. Still, she was a coward for hiding herself. Everyone would probably find out soon enough anyway, now that she had told Wirt. Sara reminded herself that even if Wirt were to tell others of her secret, she had enough information about him to ensure both their lives would be destroyed. Mutually ensured destruction. She and Wirt bore the burden of their flaws alone, only each other for company. Even without the judgement of society, the knowledge that she held a desire so wrong weighed heavily on her. Everything about her mind was freakish, something deep within her twisted irreversibly.

Even though she did not love him, they were trapped together. They were freaks, had things to hide. But a week had passed since she had last seen Wirt, and Sara found herself reaching for the phone. “Hey, is Wirt home?” Of course, it was Greg who replied. “He’s in his room but I’ll go get him for you.” Through the crackling of the line, she heard Greg call for his brother. “Wirt, theirs a girl on the phone and she wants to talk to you!” Sara wanted to disappear. Some girl she was. “Hey it’s Sara. I know it was awkward last week but I was wondering if we could hang out again some time…but as friends.” Wirt sighed. “Sure. Meet me by school Tuesday afternoon. How have you been, by the way?” In a state of turmoil but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Though, in all honestly, what did she have to lose by being emotionally open with the one kid who was as much of a freak as she was? Her fear of being completely rejected by society, left alone to die without compassion, would probably prevent her from being truly known by anyone else from here on out. “I don’t even know how I feel, Wirt. Just that I hate myself.” “I know this probably sounds stupid, but you shouldn’t feel bad about something just because it’s not something other people accept. I mean, people believe all kinds of things about each other.” He was right, probably. But even if other people were somehow in the wrong about not accepting her, she would still feel their hatred. “I guess, but I have to go now. See you Tuesday.”

* * *

  
Why did Wirt have to waste so much time thinking about this girl, as opposed to Him. The boy was so very human, but paradoxically beyond humanity in some deep way. He could see the wild fire of his soul, the way his eyes were lit but a subtle candle of wisdom impossible for a boy so young. Wirt was perfect, and everyone who could not see that and love him for it was an idiot without a semblance of worth. He watched Sara as she slept, knowing her to be less than human. Her soul was disgusting. He could smell its stench from here, sliding out of her room. He had to destroy it. He crept in through the window

* * *

The fact that something was sitting on her should have come as a jarring realization. The thing glowed in the night. She felt tired, so tired. Something was pouring out of her. Her mouth tasted like blood and her hands were wet. While what must have been blood left her body, Ice was seeping into her, almost like she had been doused with a bucket of freezing water. Suddenly she felt hot. The thing had eyes, but they were terrible. Looking into them made her feel strangely empty. So cold and so alone and so unloved. Nothing mattered anymore, and she just wanted to sleep because her mind was fading to a dull grey. Warm tendrils wrapped around her brain, her thoughts growing silent and unobtrusive.

* * *

Sara had barely even struggled. He wondered why somehow would give themselves up to another so easily and without resistance. Didn’t she want to be free? He was the epitome of freedom, securing His own by robbing that of others. Like a King, and He was the King. The God. But he had been unable to break Sara’s soul, as He had with that of so many others. Taken the core of who they were and incorporated it into Himself in order to sustain His power. They said this made Him nearly human but He was God. It was Their fault that He had been cast away, left to survive on the scraps of humanity. They were the monsters but they called Him a monster. He was God but they called themselves Gods. Only a monster could abandon its brother without thought or even the slightest attempt at compassion. It was Their fault he was so pitifully weak, unable or unwilling to destroy Sara. But in the very least He could damage her. “You don’t understand, girl, do you? Wirt is perfection and you're going to suffer for not loving him.” Sara did not appear to find His presence alarming. “What are you?” “A God.” But she only stared at him. “What did you do to me?” “You got what you deserved.”

* * *

Wirt knew it was there. Standing outside his window, always too cowardly to come in. “I hurt Sara, you know. She couldn’t see your beauty.” But Wirt knew the thing wasn’t real. And even if it was, it had a point. God, why didn’t Sara love him? Was it somehow his fault? He almost wanted to make her pay for forcing him to feel unlovable, even though he knew she wasn’t attracted to boys. Still, he didn’t want her to come to any harm. Couldn’t bear to see her come to any harm, as much as he wished to avenge his damaged pride. “You couldn’t hurt a fly. You say you want me so much but you don’t even have to courage to enter this house.” The thing seemed visibly insulted. “Oh, but I entered Sara’s room. Now her soul won’t ever be the same, Wirt. Soon enough you will see what I mean.”

It was late in the afternoon, but Sara was still in her room. Crumpled up like a plastic bag, tangled in white sheets. Her eyes stared blankly at the wall. She had told her mother she was ill, couldn’t go school. Something was missing. She was too empty to be a person, go out and do things and shit. It would feel like a play, her actions scripted. There was a hollowness in her mind. Everything was boring, even her thoughts. Sara drifted in and out of sleep, the thought of existing tiring. Fuck the creature that had visited her last night. She didn’t know what it had done to her, and she wanted to hate it. But hatred was so futile. Just another part of her it had taken. She was supposed to do something with Wirt that afternoon. That was a joke. The phone was ringing. Sara didn’t bother to pick it up. It rang more than thirty times that hour. The doorbell rang. She couldn’t be bothered to see who was there. Wirt climbed in through her window, much like the creature had the previous night. She stared blankly at him.

Wirt recoiled from the sight of Sara, who only stared blankly at the wall, not even lifting her head to look in his direction as he climbed in through the window. Something was very wrong, fuck, what had it done? He had assumed it’s threats were idle, but Sara lay motionless in front of him. Was this real life, or was he dreaming? It could not exist. He didn’t want it to exist. He had to stop it from existing, if it had been so arrogant as to think that it could play with the world outside his head. “Sara?” His voice was soft, cautious. “Why are you here, Wirt?”

He could see that the act of speaking He could see that the act of speaking cost her far more energy than it should have. “That monster, it told me that it had done something to you. God, please tell me you are okay, Sara. Tell me that none of this is real and we can both go back to our lives.” 

* * *

But Wirt knew this wasn’t the case. He couldn’t even look at Sara without a blade cutting into his heart. She was alive, but also dead. Gutted of the person she had been. How could this happen to a person? And why Sara out of all people? In that moment, Wirt didn’t want anything to do with reality.

“It came into my room last night, it did something, but I don’t know what. Wirt, It’s terrible. I can’t live like this, there is no point. In me. In you. In fucking anything. It hurts, and I don’t think we were made to feel this much pain. If you love me you won’t want me to live like this. I need you to kill me.” 

Fuck, there was no way he would be able to hurt Sara. He rushed over to her bed and took her body into his arms, as if by hugging her he could somehow bring her out of this coldness. Something deep within him knew that saving her was impossible, but he wasn’t going to kill the girl he loved. “Please Wirt, you’ve got to kill me. I’m not even alive.” He didn’t want to cry, he had no right to, but his lips were already salty from tears. “I can’t kill you. It would break me.” His voice sounded so defeated, was there no hope for either of them?

In an instant, Sara had jumped from his arms, running down the stairs to what Wirt assumed was the kitchen. Where they kept the guns and knives, fuck. She was not going to do this. But Sara was already standing there, a gun to her head. “I’m sorry, Wirt, but that monster killed me, and there’s no point in living if I’m already dead.” Somehow, Wirt was on her before she could pull the trigger. He held her to ground. “There is, you idiot. There’s me and my love for you. If you die, I die too, so unless you want to die with a guilty conscience how ‘bout you don’t die at all."

“You're the idiot if you think I’m still capable of emotions like guilt. You’re going to regret not letting me die. You don’t want to watch a person suffer like this. Not even a person, just a shell who can’t do anything but suffer anyway.”

It was strange, Wirt thought distantly, that Sara’s face no longer bore any kind of emotion. Though he had pinned her to the ground, she made no effort to escape. Everything about her was blank, and it scared him. His selfishness meant he couldn’t let her die, but neither did he truly want to keep her alive in this state. Were he capable of objectivity, Sara would being laying dead on the floor. 

“I don’t care. You’re staying alive and theirs nothing you can do about it. You’re coming home with me and I’m going to watch you. I’m going to take care of you, even if I can’t save you.”


End file.
